India at 2014 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan: Roster & Schedule

India's campaign to improve from their last-place finish at the previous iteration of the FIBA Asia Cup begins later this month. From July 11-19, India's Senior Men's Basketball team will be among the 10 squads taking part in the 5th FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan (China). India qualified for this tournament (previously known as the Stancovic Cup) by winning the 3rd South Asian (SABA) Basketball Championship in Kathmandu back in May. But you can expect the challenge to be much sterner against the big boys of Asian basketball this time around.

Photo courtesy: Ekalavyas.com

The Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has released the final 12-member squad that will represent India at the tournament, led by Head Coach Scott Flemming who is hoping that the team will continue their streak of good play under him after winning the SABA Championship and the 2014 Lusofonia Games in the Calender year thus far.

India Men's roster for the 5th FIBA Asia Cup

• Joginder Singh
  
• Narender Kumar Grewal
  
• Akilan Pari
  
• Prakash Mishra
  
• Pratham Singh
  
• Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
  
• Amrit Pal Singh
  
• Prasanna Venkatesh Sivakumar
  
• Palpreet Singh Brar
  
• Amjyot Singh
  
• Yadwinder Singh
  
• Rikin Shantilal Pethani
  
• Head Coach: Scott Flemming
  

Flemming has made two changes from the roster that won the SABA Championship in Kathmandu, dropping Vinay Kaushik and Ranbir Singh in favour of Prasanna Sivakumar and Palpreet Singh, the latter of whom was India's star at the U18 FIBA Asia Championship two years ago.

It had already been announced that India had been drawn in Group A of this tournament, along with hosts China, FIBA Asia Championship winners Iran, Japan, and Indonesia. Here is the schedule for India's preliminary round games, with all timings in IST:

• July 12 - 2:45 PM - India vs. Japan.
  
• July 13 - 5:00 PM - China vs. India.
  
• July 14 - 2:45 PM - India vs. Indonesia.
  
• July 15 - 10:00 AM - Iran vs. India.
  

India has to finish in the top four of the five teams in their group to qualify for the Quarter-Final stage, which will begin from July 17 onwards.

Watch this space for the full preview of India at the FIBA Asia Cup before the tournament!